5 & 1 Why Emma betrayed Hook
by SummerLynx
Summary: Title's pretty self explanatory
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I don't own OUaT**

**Prologue**

It's not like she didn't have a valid excuse for thinking he'd betray her. How was she to know that the first blatantly dishonest of her charming potential beau's since Neal would be the first to actually intend to stay? That sort of thinking was not the sort that made sense to Emma Swan.

Her track record clearly marked where things should have been going, so really he was the one that messed up. And just because he didn't see it, didn't mean it wasn't a valid point.


	2. Parents

**Disclaimer: I don't own OUaT**

**Parents**

All right, maybe it's harsh to use them as an example (considering the way things turned out) but at the end of the day Emma's first introduction to abandonment and betrayal would always be the day she was born. No matter what your intentions, you can't toss an hour old baby into a foreign world with no known protection whatsoever, and not give the child issues.

If you think about it, Emma wound up in a tree, in the middle of a forest, well out of sight and sound of any kind of settlement. Was there supposed to be a receiving line of some kind? Did they expect a Stalk-run unclaimed-baby delivery system to kick into play? Had Pinocchio not been present, which her parents hadn't known about anyway, she would have been dead in hours. Nothing but a baby blanket, and a pile of bones, for some random hikers to find in a tree who knows how many years later.

And that's not even getting a girl started on the harsh and transitional nature of parents in the System.

17 years of experience vs. one cocky pirate. How exactly was this situation supposed to go again?

Not enough? Let's continue.


	3. Neal

**Disclaimer: I don't own OUaT**

**Neal**

There are times when Emma really thinks that Neal was 'it'. Two lost and broken souls could only have found each other the way they did if it was meant to be. The fairytale match that little girls will always dream of, but rarely find.

He was the charming rogue who'd lived her life, knew everything about her, and wanted her anyway. Not _despite_ the life she lived _or _because of it. He understood her and he loved her.

And she was so damn blinded by this perfect fairytale that she never saw it coming. He put the watch on her and she smiled.

She can't be that idiot again. Not when every bail jumper she's ever chased since has proven his point.


	4. Graham

**Disclaimer: I don't own OUaT**

**Graham**

For eleven years after Neal she dealt with the same calibre of men over and over again. Maybe that was why she tried lowering her walls for Graham.

Yes he lied to her like all the rest. Yes he was having a partially secret affair with Regina Mills. But he wasn't married, he wasn't cheating. And unlike the others, he was ashamed of himself.

She could see it in his eyes that he was broken. She wasn't foolish enough to believe in fixing him. That's really not how these things work. But sometimes (not always, just sometimes) two broken pieces can _almost_ make a whole. It never quite makes a fairytale, but that's alright, because she'd been broken by one of those before.

He was different from the rest.

She didn't love him and he didn't love her. But they both wanted more than they had, and he _chose_ her. With time, that could have been enough.

Then he was gone too.


	5. Jefferson

**Disclaimer: I don't own OUaT**

**Jefferson**

As far as charming gentlemen go, Jefferson may not have reached for Emma's heart, but he definitely put another layer of bricks on her walls against trusting.

What could possibly be more innocent than helping a total stranger home? Why wouldn't you accept a cup of tea from a charming, handsome man wanting to thank you by welcoming you into his house?

When trusting a stranger leaves you drugged, tied up, and your best friend (and mother)'s life threatened over a damned hat, it's really no wonder an honest to God pirate never stood a chance.

Charming and handsome just don't cut it any more. If anything they're now pretty clear indicators of a trap in the making.

(Fool me once, shame on me...).


	6. Mr Gold

**Disclaimer: I don't own OUaT**

**Mr. Gold**

Emma can hardly count the number of times Mr. Gold's screwed over not just her, but all the citizens of Storybrooke, so by rights you'd think she'd be an idiot to trust him. And yet, Mr. Gold had tricked his way into a level of trust, because he never broke a deal.

He was malicious, cunning and as dishonest as they came, but he would always keep his word, and you could always count on him to have his own best interests at heart. The tricks came in trying to figure out what he was after, and then remembering that you actually had to get him to _give_ his word in order to expect him to keep it.

Emma learned that lesson the hard way.

But it never quite kicked her as hard as when she retrieved the potion of True Love from Maleficent, and he left Henry to die.

No matter how reliable his word, she would _never _trust him again.


	7. Hook

**Disclaimer: I don't own OUaT**

**Hook**

'_You would have done the same.'  
_'_Actually, no.'_

She almost regrets betraying him.

Almost.

He may have said he wasn't going to betray her, but in his own way he did. He said it himself; he could read her like an open book. He knew she had trust and abandonment issues regardless of whether he knew their cause. He had to have seen it coming. He said he wouldn't betray her, but with the first act of adversity he was 'done'.

She knew it was coming though, he played with her hopes and conscience, but she knew it all along. He'd declared as much when he told her _why_ he wanted to go to Storybrooke. His heart belonged obsessively to another who would never be there. He was plotting murder and she was the Sheriff. And his victim was more likely to take him out first.

Whether he knew it or not he _was_ going to leave her. Alive or dead, he was never going to stay.

She just pre-empted the strike.

* * *

AN: I really should have made this a 6 & 1, I forgot to include August who probably had one of the biggest all round hands in destroying her life on a yearly basis. The things that guy did for her issues really shouldn't have been left out, sorry. :(


End file.
